Progress and lack of progress in science

Two major stories on the science front today. First, the Guardian's environment correspondent brings us an article about how global warming with cause 1 in 10 plants and animals to become extinct by 2050. This finding comes after a study looking at the changing habitat of these species and whether they are likely to find a substitute habitat to replace the loss of the one destroyed by rising temperatures. This problem is to a certain extent irreversible with the current amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but can be seen as a base case for what could be much worse if we don't start curbing our reliance on fossil fuels.

Secondly, and somewhat more positively, an overview of the large year ahead for the global space program. The Mars missions are just a beginning, as by the end of the year we should have a satellite orbiting Saturn and launching a probe into the atmosphere of Titan, one of the more interesting moons of the planet.